WGC Bridgestone Invitational

Posted: 1st August 2011

It's been pretty good. I haven't hit many bad shots

Lee Westwood

Aspiring professional golfers would probably daydream of long haul holidays and just turning up for the event on a Thursday...well Wednesday if they take part in the Pro-Am. Not so! Lee has been extremely busy these past few weeks, away from the course, presenting prizes for the local Worksop Lee Westwood Junior Golf Championship, visiting the Lee Westwood Golf Academies, as well as photoshoots, recording adverts etc.

And so it's "back to work", as he flew to the US on Sunday for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Golf and Country Club in Akron, Ohio (4th - 7th August). best finish was T2nd in 2008, and 9th in 2009. He withdrew from the event last year due to injury.

Currently 5th in the Race to Dubai and 2nd in WR, Lee joins Graeme McDowell for the 1st round, from the 10th at 9.50 (local time / 2.50 BST) .

It was a good start for Lee, out in par but home in 3-under and in T13th place.

Lee has been working with putting guru Dave Stockton, (who has worked with Rory McIlroy), who has given Lee a lot of information that he was able to filter in to his routine. He was able to use "Two or three things, grip pressure and the way the club sits in my left hand, and then a few things from working with Bob (Rotella) on Sunday, not spending so much time over the ball. I feel like it freed my stroke a little bit and got the ball rolling on the line I had picked a few times".

Over the years Lee has hardly changed his pre-shot routine and found it wasn't easy to make these adjustments." I caught myself a few times out there where I had to stand off it because I had taken too long over it and I had had one extra practice stroke or a couple of extra looks. It's actually in the back of your mind that you shouldn't hit it, so I stepped off it and started all over again. I got it right most of the time, it's just a case of practicing it".

"It was good working with Dave and Dave Jr on Monday, a little bit on Tuesday but not much because they gave me quite a bit to think about on Monday. And it's just a case of trying to work through it and pick out the bits that I could incorporate in my stroke and my routine.

I did a bit of work with Bob Rotella on Sunday, as well, in New York, just to get me thinking a bit more clearly. Well, I was thinking clearly but not thinking at all, just concentrating on rolling it rather than trying to make it, and it worked a few times today, although it's quite hard to implement it on the golf course".

Overthinking was the main issue out there. I did have a couple of mechanics to work on, but once I'd set those in place, just forget about it and just make a stroke, which is what I've been struggling with. The worse you putt, the more you start to analyze it, the more technical you can get, and the more cluttered your brain gets, and that's not the ideal way to putt. You just want to putt like a 14-yearold really, just stand over it and roll it in the hole".

Lee had a 1.20 (6.20BST) start on Friday, but a 1-over 71, saw him fall to T27th. However, a lunchtime tee-time on Saturday, with Robert Karlsson saw back on track with a 3-under 67 and 5 -under par for the event.

A bogey free, final round of 65 earned Lee T9th place on 9-under par (271). He earned €105,894.69 in prize money, remaining in 5th place in the Race to Dubai and 2nd in World Ranking.

"It's been pretty good. I haven't hit many bad shots. I think I've missed -- not counting semi-rough where sometimes it runs off these fairways, probably three fairways, so that's pretty good golf around here. I have not missed many greens, either.

Today really started to get the hang on the greens and rolled in a few more, made a couple of nice 15-footers on the front nine, and then made a nice one at the last from about eight feet for par, which would have been a bit of a significant thing if I would have made par at the last because I hit a great 8-iron and the wind just switched on me. It went farther than it normally does".

He remains in the States for the USPGA Open Championship which begins on the 11th August.